It’s a real joy whenever I meet a person that shines with a real warm heart, aware and honest about own emotions.

Silje is a curious girl. New on the professional scene and despite being a fun and more than a bit crazy, she first came across as withholding herself. Underneath a softer exterior, there is a turbo charged engine. She has a lot more power, a lot more ability than she first lets on.

But that is about to change. Brendan and I are working in a project together with Silje, and it is interesting to see how she is gradually realizing her potential. She is one of those people that I can at first sight say “Yes, this is a real executive potential”. Silje has Purpose – Awareness, great personal values and a desire to do good. She has Ability – Competence and Resourcefulness, while the third component is the one lacking behind; Confidence. And Opportunity… well, with Purpose and Ability like this, she can create Opportunity whenever she wants.

It’s fun to be able to inspire confidence in a person that really has the rest of the package. Sometimes the person needs only be reminded of their greatness.

Completely off the rails but in a really good way. Wild and creative. A constant stream of crazy but highly workable ideas. Always focusing on the valuable final product. Relentless, all over the place, a duracell-bunny and freakin’ cool.

That’s Svein Langholm. A former professional cyclist turned marketing guru. This guy has done more high profile, high value marketing work than you can shake a stick at.

I have had the pleasure to work with Svein for some 7 years now. He never ceases to surprise me. Although he’s extremely extroverted, he is still humble regarding himself – but never regarding his customers. He brags about his clients, their character, their results.

Svein is crazy. I love crazy the way he is. A meeting with Svein is like a constant explosion – very inspiring, mind-filling.

I credit Amani with teaching and showing me what 100% responsibility is.

“What will you be doing after this course we are attending“, Amani queried. Brendan answered eagerly: “We’ll be visiting the Masai and giving an ITIL workshop for them… as far away from the civilization as possible“. “Why the Masai?” “Because they are the world’s most fearless warriors“, I replied. “Wold you like to meet the only people the Masai fears?” “Masai… fears” we erupted in unison. “Yes, the Barabaig – my tribe. My father is the District Commissioner for a part of Northern Tanzania, and in 2005, he discovered 5 uncharted Barabaig villages. Would you like to meet them?” “SURE!“. We were excited, dropped the Masai and flew north to Kilmanjaro. But not before Amani slipped us a healthy advice: “Don’t touch the cows” (a must-read).

Note to self: “Don’t touch the cows”

Not only did Amani open up an adventure for Brendan and I in 2010, his life story inspired us to go full throttle on the course we stay – driven by Simplicity, 100% Responsibility and Immediate Relevance. Amani exemplifies, even embodies the concept of 100% Responsibility.

Already as a little boy he got his own cow. He took full responsibility for the animal, even as she was giving birth. Amani didn’t really know what to do as the cow gave birth in a poddle of mud and the calf wouldn’t breathe. But with many hours of hard work, mouth-to-mouth and an amazing resourcefulness, he managed to save both animals. His early life makes any dandy Norwegian’s upbringing a walk in the park. Hardened by responsibility, softened by care. The family is engaged in numerous charity projects – from building schools, furnishing them with used IT equipment and teaching children to planting trees and ensuring a better life for the needy. The family donates 10% of their income to charity – despite the fact that they are not wealthy. Good karma abounds.

Amani is a warm and caring person with a clear view of his deliverables and a backbone to carry it all through to completion. That is what 100% responsibility is all about.

I really wish Amani would write a book or start blogging – his stories are nothing short of Amazing.

Given Amani’s profound impact on my view on life, it is only fitting that this marks the 200th post on this blog.

I thought I knew Håkon after coaching him since 1,5 years. We had gone through his deliverables in life, how they could be measured, his full current life situation, his ideal situation, his purposes and goals in life. And he had moved on upward like I’ve never seen before – from a salesman in the company to the sales manager in 1/6th of the time he had planned, and now he was the CEO. Amazing. Like a rocket.

And here I was sitting at his wedding. He was about to marry the beautiful and funny Jessie. The couple had visited us on our boat last year and Håkon and I had spent lots of time together for more than a year. Still – there were plenty of surprises from the speeches at this wedding, although all of them reinforced my impression of him. From stories of a joyful, prankster, fun kid to stories of a fun, prankster and joyful adult.

Let me now clear up the definition of a word I will use in the next paragraph. When I write “unserious”, I mean the opposite of “serious” in this sense: Serious is when things are getting grave, darker, stressed and cramped – like when you think “Shit, this is damn serious!”. Unserious is when it’s light, easy, playful. Like when you were a child. And with this quote from L. Ron Hubbard, you should get the full context: “The more serious you take the game, the less chance there is of winning“.

Håkon is unserious. He is playful, relaxed, chill, fun and easy going. And precisely because of this, he is very productive. He has an intelligent simplicity about him that makes it easy for him to look for and find the really simple and effective solutions. Even when the tide is high and the waves are raging, he is able to keep his composure and be his kid self. And yes, he is like a kid in many respects – complete with pranks and practical jokes. And whimsical and creative and unpredictable. But very professional. ANd he is able to lay effective plans as well.

Håkon is able to really capture the moment and enjoy life fully, even without any plan. When he first contacted me for assistance, he wanted more structure in his life. So, we provided this. But after having known and worked with Håkon on a personal level for a couple of years now, I am a bit wary of the need for more structure. Because here is where a balance should come in. Too much focus, and you may loose out on interesting situations and relations. The kid may suffer, creativity may take a hit. I told him the last time we met that I was thinking about writing a book titled “Less Focus”, inspired by Håkon. I had to explain this by adding that I thought it important that he never loose that kid in himself, that spontaneous, fun boy able to take a different turn. I told him I was a bit fed up with all this serious business talk about focus, focus, focus, structure, form, plan, follow-up, focus, focus. And that he had something to bring to the business world from a different angle. And the success to prove it. He smiled. Perhaps he can write a chapter or two in that book.

I have learned a lot from Håkon. Maybe he thinks that the learning has been more of a one-way street. But no. He has inspired and given more life to that little kid in me. And for that I am very grateful.

Creativity, abundance of great ideas, caring. Ole Wiik is engaged in so many projects and for so many people, I’ve simply lost the count. Charity work, work for the local community, the man behind “Pinåsløpet” where top athletes start off in his garden, runs straight up and many kilometers later passes the goal line in his back yard…

…and the “Trollfoss” adventures.

Ole gives without thought of reward.

Ole is the quickest person I have coached – he instantly (and I mean instantly) made visible and valuable improvements. He is a very good friend, listener and fellow brain stormer.

Not only because she is one of the world’s top athletes, among the elite cross country skiers. And not just because she is the most dedicated and focused person I have met. But because she harbors a human quality I admire even more.

Kristin Størmer Steira has been a consistent top performer for years. She is a 24/7 athlete working out twice a day – sun rain or hail – she gets out and exercises more per day than I do in a year. Although that may change with her persistent nudging and insistence that I join her in the soon-to-be snow covered tracks behind my house. Her fervent desire to achieve her greatest was clear from the first time I met her.

While focus and dedication is the bread and butter of top athletes, single-mindedness, egoism and even dismissiveness may follow suit. Not so with Kristin. Her empathy is rather surprising given her determination for gold. She is warm-hearted and cares about much more than skiing and sports. Her balanced views recently came through with a post on her new blog (thanks Brendan) where she counters upon the view of another skier’s mental coach. He claimed that athletes who wanted to reach the top should drop education. Kristin managed to get her in marketing, positioning her well in the future when her skiing career is over. In the meantime, you can follow her on her blog and her new Facebook official fan page (thanks Niklas).

Kristin shows an amazing balance of focus and dedication and empathy and spirit of play. And she gets stuff really quickly. A smart one she is.

The first time I saw Brendan, he was busy entertaining a whole school yard full of kids and parents. With three torches flying and a burning bicycle balancing on his head, the crowd was cheering and having great fun. So I decided to hire him. The best recruitment I ever did – out of more than 2000 recruitments over the years.

It’s hard to do Brendan justice through a simple blog post like this. He is the one person I know that can deliver just about anything. Whatever he sets out to do, he can get it done – from running the half marathon remarkably fast, beating the crap out of me on the pool table, mastering golf and becoming the best foosball player in Norway – to consistently creating value in business projects. Brendan is the most direct and honest person I have met. He would tell the President of the United States exactly what he thinks with no holds barred. In a war, he is the one I would want to have as my wing man.

I am honored to share my workday with Brendan – and because of that I now call it my playday.

His childhood was remarkable, being the son of “Romeo and Juliet” with one family high on the Unionist side and the other at the top of the IRA. He has learned a lot in his life – but more importantly, he can teach and inspire others. Being a Montessori teacher and a prize winning instructor of business courses, he can spell-bind an audience and get them to get it. Whatever “it” is.

I am personally on a quest for less security, certainty, comfort and solidity in life. And with Brendan as a partner, there’s always a surprise lurking.

Surprises can be found over at his blog.

This marks the start of a new series of posts on this blog. More amazing people to come.